I work in a medical surgical floor and sometimes the requests that A&O3, independent, adult pts ask/make just floor me. No sense of shame and responsibility.
Pass me that cup of water. The table is literally inches away.
Fix my pillow.
Pull up my blankets.
Hold up my urinal. *ugh, I don't think so*
Wipe me. 'What's wrong with your hands?'. 'I can't seem to get everything, it's better if you do it'. 'Well, try and let's see how much you can do'. *he wipes* 'Guess what, you got everything'.
I give them their pills and they lay there expecting me to put in their mouths and hold the water while they drink through the straw like little kings/queens.
The incident that prompted the start of this thread happened a few days ago. It was a pt with an ileo *post op +++". He was being discharged within two days and the ostomy nurse has already visited him and gave pt education on ileo management. Anyway, it was giving +++ ouput and it would start to fill up and leak if not emptied regularly *of course*. This happened three times before I came in for the night shift. It happened again. I went in cleaned up the floor, cleaned him up, helped him change etc. Then he just layed it on me. Talked completely condescendingly saying
'I can't believe that I have to do your job for you. I'm in the hospital. It's your job to empty my pouch. What do you guys even do all day. You expect me to do everything. What's the point of being here?' etc. etc. etc.
Most of the time I don't take things personally and just let pts vent as long as they don't curse or yell. But this guy just rubbed me wrong. I told him:
"NO. This is actually YOUR job. There is nothing wrong with your hands. You are completely independent. The nurses help out people who can't do things for themselves. You can empty your own pouch. And when you leave here, who is going to do it for you at home? I understand you are frustrated but please don't blame it on me or the other nurses. It's an important part of your therapy that you be as independent as possible. I won't hesitate to help you but I won't do things for you that you perfectly capable of."
He didn't like it but he emptied it himself and stopped waiting for us to constantly check in to see if it's time to empty.
OH, WELL!!!
This job has made me more assertive than I ever thought I would be. Or else I would be staying behind all the time finishing up my work!
Specializes in Plastics. General Surgery. ITU. Oncology.
The old-school Sister of my old Plastics ward showed me a good trick.
Quite a few of our perfectly-able male patients used to ask us to place "Percy" in the urinal because "Oh nurse I can't manage" Sister had the answer. A huge pair of stainless-steel forceps.
Gloved-up and approaching with the forceps it was amazing how the patient suddenly regained the ability to "Point Percy at the Porcelain" so to speak.
Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
This didn't happen to me, but a friend who happens to be a young male tech.
A 35 year old female patient asked him if he had any condoms on him, because she hadn't "gotten any in a month." Oh yeah, and she wanted him to be her next victim, I mean, partner!
PS, not that it matters, but she was not exactly attractive or clean, either.
An older pt happily scratching his genitals with a metal fork. "Nurse, my balls are itchy! Can you grab another fork and help me scratch?!". I found this more amusing really.
I don't mind so much when an eldely 80-90 year old asks me to do a lot of little things for them. I think they may remember a time when nurses actually had time to give back and feet rubs. Most of these old people have probably taken care of people all of their lives and they deserve a little extra TLC.
It is the young and middle aged who drive me crazy when they ask me to do things they are capable of themselves. I believe most people do not know what a nurse really does or what the job entails. Some of these may think we just pass meds and listen to a few body sounds. Most don't understand we are pulled in a thousand directions and it takes a boot camp like education to be a nurse. And then again some are just spoiled while others may be mentally impaired in some way. See a lot of this on a nuero floor.
The old-school Sister of my old Plastics ward showed me a good trick.
Quite a few of our perfectly-able male patients used to ask us to place "Percy" in the urinal because "Oh nurse I can't manage" Sister had the answer. A huge pair of stainless-steel forceps.
Gloved-up and approaching with the forceps it was amazing how the patient suddenly regained the ability to "Point Percy at the Porcelain" so to speak.
:cheers: Wow, if they'll ask a nun to do that, there's no hope for the rest of us. I'll have to remember to get some long grill tongs.
Specializes in Plastics. General Surgery. ITU. Oncology.
LOL I'm English. "Sister" is just a term meaning the nurse in charge of the ward. Believe you me that particular Sister would have made a bloody awful nun!
My favorite are the ones that ask me to change the TV channels for them. I always ask 'How do you do this at home?' They look at me like I have three heads and tell me they do it themselves. I just tell them they can do it here themselves, too. I am not so mean that I won't allow them to change their own TV channels.
I had a 20 y/o, one week post appy, being discharged that day, who was incontinent and wanted someone to come in and bath her so she could go home - NOT!! Get up, clean up and go home!! I also do HHC - had a woman s/p AAA - one month post op where the family was literally feeding her and lifting her. Told her that if she did not start doing for herself, I was discharging her as non-compliant. Low and behold, the next visit, she was walking and feeding herself. Family thanked me profusely for getting her moving. She was a great client after that!
Specializes in Med./Surg., Diabetes, Med. ICU, home hea.
Oh, my goodness... haven't thought about this in years. Coming in to work the night shift, pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store across the street from the major university teaching hospital I worked at and here comes my patient, in hospital gown, I-Med running on battery power, IV bag nearly empty and he's got a bag with a Colt .45 and a pack of smokes. He's heading back towards the hospital, sees me, asks for a light... he forgot to get matches.
I think you guys/gals have been treating my Mother in Law! She is the laziest person I know, loves to have surgeries and expects everyone to wait on her. I have heard more than once "well you can do it for me because you are a nurse". No way! Do it yourself...and I have only been a nurse for a year and a half so far!
Diabetic pt says "can I get some whipped cream for this jello".
Morbidly obese woman refused to be pulled up in bed - I gave her her meds PO, held her water up to her mouth for her - straw drips a drop of water on her chest and she screeched "you are doing that on purpose"!
The best is when the pt buzzes and specifically asks for the nurse for such tasks as... can you clean under my nails, can you bring me a comb, can you write down this phone number and do it fast because the number on the screen of the TV evangelist is about to disappear!
iNurseUK, RN
348 Posts
The old-school Sister of my old Plastics ward showed me a good trick.
Quite a few of our perfectly-able male patients used to ask us to place "Percy" in the urinal because "Oh nurse I can't manage" Sister had the answer. A huge pair of stainless-steel forceps.
Gloved-up and approaching with the forceps it was amazing how the patient suddenly regained the ability to "Point Percy at the Porcelain" so to speak.